Plant reproduction is a complex and highly coordinated process. Pollen grains, which contain the plants' male gametes (sperm cells), are carried from the male organ of the flower (the stamen) to the female organ (the pistil). Here the pollen germinates and grows a pollen tube, which extends and is guided to the ovary, where it releases the sperm. The sperm fuse with the egg cells, giving rise to an embryo, part of the seed.
[...]
José Feijó says, "Pollen tubes are a model system for cellular tip-growth, a process common to fission yeast, filamentous fungi, the root hairs of plants and nerve cells. Our findings, implicating analogous genes in growth processes in both plants and animals, underscores how evolution re-uses successful mechanisms, over and over again. We feel that our research, performed in Arabidopsis [Thaliana] and tobacco, now opens doors for the study of conserved cell-cell communication processes, across plant and animals species." (Via.)
No comments:
Post a Comment